Will I survive this home remodel?

[mich]

I think I'm going crazy. We are remodeling the kitchen, dining room, most of the living room, hallway, new wiring for the whole house, and then we figured while we were at it we should just go ahead and rip out the upstairs bath.: Dh is doing all most all of the work himself, after work and on weekends. So add to the environmental stress, losing my support person and parenting solo for months.

My stress is through the roof, my home is in shambles and we spend a lot of time at home. I have been reduced to paper plates and meals from the fridge. toaster, or microwave. When I so use anything non disposable I have to wash it in the bath tub. After a few weeks of that I sadly switched to paper.

We have a temporary kitchen set up in the corner of the living room, but the living room ceiling is gone and with all the work dust and plaster fall all over everything so I hate being in there.

Most of all I worry about all this work and dust and fumes. What kind of home am I providing for my kids?!! We are using as many green building products as we can. My dh would be happy to use all conventional materials (fast and easy) so I need to stay a step ahead of him at all times. He is happy to use green when I provide it, but does not have time for research.

Is anyone else going through a remodel? Or in the past? How did you survive it? Help! Any tips would be appreciated!

[brittneyscott]

Oh I don't really have any advice for you but . DH and i have done some small remodeling before but we have an old trailer we live in right now so it was kind of piece it together work. We just took it one room at a time. We're planning to start building a home in another yr or 2 though so oh boy!!!

[mich]

Thanks for the hug. I guess I needed to vent! Good luck on your home building!

Anyone else doing a kitchen (or whatever) remodel?? How is it going for you?

[happymomma]

YES! We have been remodeling for about 18 months and good lord there are days where I think, sell it and move into a ready built house NOW!

I so feel you on the losing the support person/parenting solo thing. Plus, I want to help...I was always a daddys girl in there doing things with the guys so now that I have to stand back with this big ol' preggo belly and watch the kids I get ansy!

You will survive...your sanity might take a few hits but I'm pretty sure you will survive nonetheless.

pm me if you ever feel like venting. We have remodeled so far:

kitchen (oye, I think I would rather poke my eyes out with a fork before I ever do that again)

tore off floor to ceiling brick fireplace and completely rebuilt it.

replaced all floors (worse than the kitchen...its like moving all over again)

completely gutted downstairs bath and remodeled.

put up about 19 miles of fence

painted everything, sometimes twice :

replaced all the windows

what else? there is more I know but I am slightly blocking things out I know.

We still have 2 upstairs baths and would like to repaint guest and master bedrooms.

[mich]

Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank you!!

I might need to borrow that fork if I don't get a kitchen soon, my miserable plastic might not be strong enough!

We moved into this house a year ago and planned to remodel slowly. That got old fast, now we are on the super fast track and need to have all the mayor jobs done by the holidays.

Thank you for the kind words about my sanity. Last week my nightly routing consisted of a panic attack after lights out. But this week is better. I should buy stock in Nordic Naturals with all the fish oil I am consuming, but it seems to be helping.

I just need to keep focused, focus on the end, it will all be worth it in the end... why do I sound like I'm giving birth!

Did you replace kitchen cabinets? What did you use? At first dh was going to build them himself. I loved this idea, custom, all wood. But then we needed to be ready to host Christmas for family flying in from out of state and country. So we opted for an all wood (really plywood) cabinet. Now I feel guilty about this. Plywood will off gas and even though I plan to let them air out for a few weeks before they are installed I am still kind of regretting it.

But there is nothing I can do about it now.

Thanks again and I will take you up on the venting!

[snanna]

I'm in such sympathy with you-- your remodelling sounds a lot like ours, though we (thank heaven) stopped before we got to the bathrooms. We're pretty much done now, but there is a lot of finish work that I suspect will be a few years in the offing....

My best advice to you is to admit how hard this really is, and give yourself lots of credit when you get anything done in a day past feeding and clothing everyone! Seriously. When daily life is this hard, everything else just has to take a backseat. And that's okay!

And good for you for using as many green materials as you can! Given the realities of family life and budgets, not everyone can take every environmentally-friendly measure on every project. But you are doing what's possible for you, and that's great! Much more than most people even consider doing.

You will be so happy once it's done... Just stay sane a liiiiittle longer!

[oneKnight]

HUGS!!!!!!!!!!

I am only tearing out my carpet and I'm not sure if I'll survive it! I'm just tired of all this STUFF in my way (furniture that is misplaced at the moment mostly).

[mich]

Thanks!

Snanna, Thank you so much! I think this is a big part of it. Someone will call and ask me a favor and I have to bite my lip not to snap at them "Are you crazy! You are asking ME for help/ to do something!!"

Then I wonder if I am just selfish or weak or something. You are right, all I seem to be able to do is keep us clothed and fed!

Oneknight, Thank you, you and I dream of a time when furniture is where it belongs!